Eye of the Beholder
by The Lady Avaritia
Summary: Modern AU. Sakura Haruno is a med-student with a dream. Her friend Ino - a rich heiress with a goal. And as Ino drags Sakura into the high-pressure deep waters of the glamorous life of the New York high society, the pinkette will learn about life, labels and love. And she will be aided in her quest by the handsome Izuna Uchiha.
1. Chapter 1

"We're here," Sasuke announced, and Izuna felt the car skid to a halt. He smiled pleasantly at his nephew.

"Thank you very much for the ride, Sasuke-kun."

"It was nothing, Izuna-oji-san," Sasuke waved the older man, and jumped out of the driver's seat. He opened the door for his uncle. Izuna stepped out, carefully feeling the ground with his cane, and stood in the sunlit parking lot.

Sasuke took his suitcases out. He had to fight to keep on his Uchiha Blank Face ™. Excited? Who? Him?

Okay, so maybe a little, but no one could blame him. After what seemed like centuries of whining and cajoling over the phone he had finally convinced his uncle that he should in fact move to New York, where the rest of the Uchiha family resided.

Sasuke blamed his father for all the effort though – Fugaku and Izuna had gotten into a very vicious fight a few years ago, and Izuna had severed all ties with that side of the family. But then sulky and full of teenage angst Sasuke had shown up at Izuna's doorstep, having spent his last money on the plane ticket, and uncle and nephew were united in their distaste for Fugaku.

Madara and Itachi had played interlopers, and Sasuke had gone back home, while Izuna began to rekindle his relationship with the rest of the Uchiha, much to the delight of, well, everyone.

He'd even come down for Sasuke's high school graduation. And now he was in the city permanently, as the new head of Law department of Uchiha Inc. So maybe Sasuke was _a little_ excited.

Izuna had bought an apartment on the first floor of one of those slightly snobbish complexes that had everything inside them and you never needed to leave except for work. It would be easier for him, until he got used to the city. He wouldn't do something as ridiculous as, say, buying a penthouse in Manhattan as Madara had insisted he should do.

"One of us owning a penthouse is quite enough, Madara," he'd said softly, though he couldn't help but smile fondly. It was just Madara's manner – affectionate and flamboyant. Tobi was just like his father in that.

Izuna had some things to say about Madara's shotgun wedding to Konan Ame, and about the even more sudden divorce, but in the long run it had worked out for the best for both of them and the child. Tobi could enjoy a normal life with Konan and her partner Pein, away from the spotlight and paparazzi cameras the surrounded the Uchihas at every step.

Apparently one successful marriage in three brothers was quite enough, and no one could deny that what Mikoto and Fugaku had was True Love ™. Izuna only wished they would let him find his own love at his own pace.

Mikoto had an unfortunate penchant for setting him up with woman, though Izuna believed that at twenty-seven years old he was more than capable of finding his own way on the rocky path of love.

For now he focused on finding his way to his new apartment, listening carefully for the sound of the wheels on his suitcase as he followed Sasuke. Soon he'd get more than used to the terrain but for now it was best to be cautious.

Med student Haruno Sakura was sprawled on the balcony of the apartment she shared with one Ino Yamanaka. It was technically the apartment of Ino's parents, that they'd bought and given to her as a present for her high school graduation, and where Sakura lived as well for minimal rent, because she hated feeling like she owed her blonde friend.

They were both twenty one already (celebrated with much, perhaps too much alcohol), but iNo still got pocket money from her parents. Well, allowance is what she called it, but there was a five thousand dollar transaction to her account at the beginning of every month to be spent as Ino saw fit, and it was pocket money as far as Sakura was concerned. "Rich people," She scoffed to herself, and smiled fondly.

She stretched lazily, like a cat until she heard her back pop and smiled to herself.

Ino was out in town shopping, and Sakura had the apartment to herself to study. She got up from the sun-warmed cement of the balcony and looked over the railing to the parking lot. The apartment was in the second of four buildings that made up the complex. Complexes were much safer, Ino's mother had said. maybe she was right.

Sakura watched a familiar car pull in the parking lot. The blue Subaru belonged to one and only Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura frowned. She and Sasuke hadn't kept much in touch after their break up. Sure, they had decided to remain friends, but it was just… awkward. Had he come to see her?

She watched him open the door to the passenger seat. A second man came out of the cat. He was tall and thin, from what she could see. Sasuke pulled out two suitcases, and the man followed him, tapping his cane on the ground. She remembered now. Sasuke had mentioned his uncle in Boston many times always fondly. From what she could remember, Izuna Uchiha had lost his sight in an accident, was a lawyer and Sasuke loved him almost as much as he loved Itachi, which was saying something.

Was Sasuke's uncle moving in?

"Take a scalpel each, get out and solve this like medics!" Orochimaru snarled viciously as he strode between her and Kabuto. They had gotten into yet another fight, and now it was costing them both. But it wasn't her fault Kabuto was an arrogant prick.

Orochimaru's left hand shook and shuddered dangerously. He squeezed it in a fist, and gave them a hard stern look with his blazing golden eyes.

"You'll both be cleaning piss in the ER until the end of today. I can't believe it. You are the result of billions of years of evolution but you see fit to act like five year olds, and then you ask me why I'm favoritizing Kaguya-san, when all the two of you do is bring me headaches."

Blood had started dripping from his shuddering fist. Sakura flinched as Orochimaru stalked away, hissing vicious insults at anyone who came in his way. she felt a mix of pity and strong dislike for the man. He had been a brilliant neurosurgeon once, best in his field and she remembered idealizing him almost as much as she idealized Tsunade. But then he had gotten in a car accident that had damaged nerves in his arms, causing the involuntary shudders and tremors. He'd kept that to himself and went on operating anyway, taking cocktails of sedatives until one day a tremor had caused the death of a patient on the operating table. The patient – none other than his own teacher, guardian and father figure Hiruzen Sarutobi. It had been all over the papers too, splattered in big bold letters:

**BRILLIANT SURGEON LIES ABOUT OWN HEALTH AND KILLS PATIENT**

Tsunade, the current head of the private hospital had kept him on work as a head of the newly formed diagnostician department, and has saddled him with the task of supervising the med students that came to the hospital. Apparently if you could survive his misanthropic treatment, you could survive anything. It was also a well-known fact that he changed his team every few years and if he liked you, you could get the job, a nice high-paying one. and if you'd worked under him… you could work anywhere.

Sakura knew that her work in the future was secure anyway – she'd had plenty of talks with Tsunade herself – a no less famous surgeon, if hindered by her love for good alcohol.

she shot Kabuto a venomous glare and vowed to get him back somehow. Grabbing a scalpel as Orochimaru had suggested seemed like a great idea right about now, especially as his eyes flashed and he grinned arrogantly.

"Guys, guys, please don't fight," Kimimaro Kaguya said softly, putting his hands up between them. He was on Orochimaru's current team of brilliant diagnosticians, had just graduated med school the previous year, and was painfully shy around anyone. Sakura really liked him, and felt sorry for the way Orochimaru lashed out on him occasionally.

She sighed. It was going to be a very long day, she was already tired.

"Disregard what he just said, I need you in my office," Tsunade strode in the hallway. She shot Kabuto a look. "Not you," and dragged Sakura away.

"Shizune took a lunch break!" she complained, "but there's papers and forms and…" she flailed her arms around the office. "Deal with it."

Sakura chuckled to herself. She'd expected nothing less, to be sure.

Dead tired. She was dead tired. Exhausted. Good thing that Ino had come to pick her up. She was in no condition to drive. Or go to fancy dinner parties.

"But Sakuraaaaaaa," Ino whined too loudly, "Everyone who's someone will be there! You have to come!"

Ino's mother owned one of the most successful fashion magazines, and she always threw glamorous parties, where glamorous people could show up and talk about pointless things. Sakura knew the truth of the matter – Ino was always dead bored at such events and she needed someone to keep her occupied.

With a sigh the pinkette let herself be manhandled out of the car and dragged into their apartment so Ino could fuss over her and dress her up all fancy.

She was half-asleep and completely limp in her blonde friend's arms.

"Anyway," Ino babbled, "have you seen out new naighbour, he's just moved in the big apartment on the first floor, and he is gorgeous! That's what I call a good-looking man – tall but not too tall, and lean, but not skinny, and his hair is long which is nice, imagine pulling it while he's kissing you… he remindsme of someone though…"

"That's Sasuke's uncle," Sakura muttered, "I saw him arrive."

"And you didn't tell me?" Ino smacked her with the wooden hairbrush. "You should've let me know that a major ten was moving in our building."

Then she paused, screwing up her nose.

"Wait, isn't he too young to be Sasuke's uncle? He looks about our age, which is why I had him on my radar in the first place."

Sakura tilted her head to the side.

"Not really- he is the child of Soichiro Uchiha's third wife, who was about our age when she married him. He and Itachi were born a year apart."

"Isn't that weird though," Ino said, waving her hands.

"Yeah, I'd imagine," Sakura shrugged, "I mean, think about it – you're already twenty something and a first time dad when your own dad – the grandfather of your child! – calls to tell you hey! you've got yourself a new baby brother."

Ino let out a thoughtful hum, as she practically shoved Sakura's wooden limbs into the dress.

"That's not mine," Sakura grumbled, feeling the material.

"It's mine," Ino said, "but you didn't come shopping with me this weekend, so I'm lending it to you for the occasion. Can you do your make-up without poking an eye out while I put my own dress on?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Ino and snatched the eyeliner from her hands.

"Who will be there anyway?" she asked, as she tried very hard to make her eyelid not tremble.

Ino shrugged as she stepped into a pair of skyscraper heels.

"The usual suspects, I think – some Uchihas, some Hyugas, the Namikazes, you know mom likes to keep the same circles."

Sakura shuddered.

"That slithering snake will be there as well then."

Ino laughed at her.

"Orochimaru is a personal friend of Naruto's Godfather, they can't ban him from the party just because he's a mean misanthrope who likes to make people cry in his spare time."

"But nobody likes him!" Sakura said.

"Jiraiya likes him," Ino argued.

"Yeah but…. Jiraiya likes everyone – he's like an older version of Naruto. Which is kind of self-explanatory since he's been Naruto's role model all his life."

Ino shrugged again.

"Sakura you're about to put lip gloss on your eyelashes."

Sakura groaned.

"I haven't slept, I'm tired, can I please skip this?"

"Absolutely not! What if our new sexy neighbor is there as well? He's an Uchiha right?"

"Sasuke will be there," Sakura tried as a last resort.

"So what? I thought you were friends now?" But Ino knew better than anyone just how far from the truth that was. Sasuke hadn't come to see her – just helped his uncle into the building, and gone back out, not that she'd stalked or anything (okay, maybe she has spied out of the balcony).

"But…but…"

"You're coming and that's final. I'll feel lonely and upset, but if I have you… you'll keep from making stupid decisions, like leaving the party early with someone undesirable…"

Sakura shook her head chuckling.

"Or going to the private bathrooms with - "

"NO!" Ino shrieked. "We. Do. Not. Talk. ABOUT THAT!"

Sakura smiled at her friend's horror stricken face.

"Fine, I'll keep you from having a drunk one night stand tonight."

"Thank you," Ino sounded the tiniest bit indignant.

Ino huffed, puffed and fussed with a lot more dramatic sweeps of her pale hands than was probably necessary. She admired the final result in the mirror. Sakura was too tired, but even she had to admit that her friend had done well with the make up and the dresses and the impossible hairstyles.

She followed the blonde to her car. It was another pointlessly expensive gift from her father - a gigantic black monster of a car with shining darkened windows, that clashed with Ino's Barbie appearance at all points. It was a safe car, though, could withstand nearly everything. Ino passed by it. Sakura groaned. Of course Ino's mom had sent the limo. Of course.

Sakura hated the parties that Ino's mom organized, because they usually involved a red carpet and hordes of reports with flashing cameras and microphones. Thankfully, Ino snuck them in though the back entrance, and they mingled effortlessly with all the people that had been invited to the celebration of one-thing-or-other.

They successfully mingled with the rest of the fancy dressed crowds that had been invited. Ino swept two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter, downed one almost immediately and handed the other to Sakura.

"Maybe," Sakura offered tenderly, "you'd be able to avoid drunken mistakes with handsome rich men you can't stand if you… avoided getting drunk?"

Ino laughed and waved her off.

"Come on, billboard-brow. I think I just spotted my favorite heiress!"

She grabbed Sakura's wrist in a vice like grip and dragged her off amidst the people, stopping here and there to greet someone with a dazzling smile.

Soon Sakura understood the urgency of the situation. Hinata was standing behind her father's imposing figure, trapped by her insecurities, compelled to not move from under his metaphorical shadow. If there was no one to save her, she just might spend the whole night there, not exactly at his arm, but maybe two or three steps behind him, looking pretty and terrified. Hinata, in Sakura's humble opinion, was not build for the pressures of a public life this demanding, and she resented Hinata's father for forcing his daughter into positions that would just amplify her anxiety.

"Hinata-chan, Ino greeted cheerfully, raising a hand, and turned her charms to Hiashi Hyuga.

"Hiashi-sama, thank you so much for taking the time to visit this humble gathering. We are all very honored to have you here, but if you'd excuse us, we have to steal your daughter from you for just a moment?"

he gave them both a cold once-over that made Sakura almost shudder. Was that man made of ice-blocks or something? She returned the cold look with a pleasant false smile that let him know exactly how much the dislike between them was mutual.

Ino pulled Hinata with her, stopped a passing waiter, and took the whole tray from him with a wink and a folded banknote as a tip.

"Let's go hide somewhere before I shove my heel down someone's throat for being an ignorant - " Sakura cut herself off before she said something that might offend Hinata'd delicate hearing and smiled at her friend.

"How are you doing Hinata-chan?"

Hinata smiled shyly, lowering her eyes.

"F-fine, I guess."

Ino shoved a cocktail in her trembling hands and downed another.

"Oi, Ino, are you going to drink all this by yourself? Taking care of drunk you would be such a drag." the drawl of Nara Shikamaru attracted the girl's attention to where he and Akimichi Chouji were standing by a pillar, trying to merge with the shadows and avoid any form of socializing with anyone they deemed unworthy.

Ino took a look around, to make sure no one was watching, and then stuck her tongue out at him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Have you located an0ne else yet?" he asked. Ino shrugged her pale oval shoulders.

"I know for a fact that Neji is here, which means Ten-Ten is here, and then there's also Naruto, I saw his mom about three or four people ago, Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, and Sasuke is probably sulking somewhere," she scoffed, "and I think that's all for the night." then she made a face as if remembering something unpleasant. "Oh, and my stupid cousin Deidara and his boyfriend."

"Deidara, the Deidara?" Sakura asked. Ever since she'd first met Ino at the playground in elementary school, she'd been hearing stories about the awful mean insane cousin Deidara who lived in San Francisco. Ino went there for three weeks every summer, and always came back with new stories that would affirm how horrible her cousin was. Sakura had constructed a bot of an image about him. When ino had returned last year, she'd been full of even more gossip – apparently his cousin was in a mad romance with the owner of the gallery where most his exhibitions took place. Because yes, Ino's cousin was a world famous sculptor. Which apparently did nothing to redeem the fact that he'd stuck bubblegum in Ino's hair when she was five.

"Yes, the one," Ino cringed at the voice.

"Deidara, my friends, my friends – Deidara, and don't you dare put your dirty clay-stained hands on them, you slimy ball of deception, they are MY friends, MINE, I saw them first."

"Oi, oi, oi, Ino-chan," he protested raising his hands as if in defeat, "I only wanted to see all the lovely people that have been standing you for so long."

"Well you saw them, now scram."

"Oh come on, Ino-chan, that's mean."

"Mean starts me!"

Deidara cut himself short of saying whatever he was about to say next to raise a blond eyebrow.

"That was a good one, Ino-chan, I have no worthy reply," he said. "I'll go see where Sasori's wandered off to. He's probably admiring the back view of the building, he's a such a sucker for architecture."

He sauntered off. Ino let out an indignant gasp when she realized he'd snatched two cocktails off the tray she'd taken. It prompted her to down another one herself.

"Gah!" she stomped her foot, "I hate him!"

"Ino we haven't been here thirty minutes and you've had three drinks already, I think it's time to slow down," Sakura said carefully, and handed the tray to a conveniently passing member of the catering service.

"Let's go hide from social contact upstairs," Shikamaru offered, "We can climb on the roof and watch the night clouds hide the stars."

"Oh, you and your clouds," Ino murmured.

"It's… it sounds nice," Hinata murmured, and looked away pointedly.

from the newspapers. There was that one famous flute player with her boyfriend and his twin; and then there was Minato Namikaze, one of the most influential politicians on the modern political scene, or so the papers claimed; And then there was the bane of her existence, Orochimaru, who was talking with an already very tipsy Tsunade and Naruto's godfather, Jiraiya, and a woman that, was that? yes, yes it was – Anko Mitarashi, a genius in biomedical engineering, and of course, he knew her; and then there was the other bane of her existence, Uchiha Madara, who had been trying to woe her since he first met when she was sixteen, and beside him his older brother Fugaku, the pompous git, almost as bad as Hiashi, and his wife Mikoto, who raised her glass at Sakura and smiled, and further down was Itachi and his bulking bodyguard, Kisame, and they both nodded in acknowledgment when they caught her eye; Kakuzu, the richest man in the country, or so the papers claimed, who owned one of the must successful bank chains in the _world,_ and who was talking to another man, who was shorter and slighter in build, his long dark hair tied back. She could faintly make out his face across the hall, the dark glasses that covered most of his face and the pleasant smile, and oh! oh!

She pulled Ino's hand.

"There's your ten," she said, nodding in their general direction. Ino grinned like tha cat that's got the cream.

"He's even more good-looking up close!" she said.

"He's across the room from us."

"So?"

Sakura sighed hopelessly.

"It would be a good time for Sasuke to show up about now and introduce us to his hot uncle," the blonde remarked flippantly.

"You already know Madara," he deadpanned. He'd managed to sneak behind them, somehow, with his cloud of darkness and misery.

"Know, well yeah, I do know him, not in the biblical sense of course, but…" Sakura gently pushed Ino aside.

"She meant your other uncle."

"Oh, Izuna?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I mean, since he lives in our building and we could, I don't know help him get used to the city?" Ino had managed to recover enough to put her evil scheming to action.

Sasuke had the decency to pretend he wasn't seeing the calculating glow in her eyes. Being a close friend of Ino's inevitably meant one thing – you knew for a fact her greatest dream – to find a rich good-looking husband who'd take care of her. Manners and good behavior – mandatory, love – optional.

"Sasu-ke-kun!" she sing songed, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could manage.

It was a lost battle for him – Ino got what Ino wanted, always, no exceptions.

"I'll introduce you, come on," he said, and looked at Sakura to show the invitation was extended.

Of course, they had to stop and -cringe- talk to people. Business associates of Sasuke's family, friends of Ino's mom. Sakura was invisible, it seemed. She wasn't the daughter of anyone famous, and her parents weren't filthy rich like everyone else here. She had to work hard for the things she wanted.

She wasn't envious or jealous, it was not in her nature. Rather, she was thankful that she knew the satisfaction of an achievement that you'd spent impossible amounts of time and effort and work on, knowing that the people around her didn't see her though the filter of their own greed and desire to achieve something through her. She cast a fleeting thought at Hinata, who was left with Chouji and Shikamaru and would probably end up going to cloud-gaze with them on the roof.

Ino smiled cheerfully at Kakuzu. His wife had known Ino's mother, when she was still alive, and he came to those events out of a sense of grim obligation to honor the friendship the two women had had. He greeted coldly and politely and excused himself to get a timely phone-call.

Izuna was standing in front of them looking very much at ease, his elegant hands resting on top of his cane.

"Izuna-oji-san, I'd like to introduce to you my friends, Yamanaka Ino, whose mother is our hostess tonight, and Sakura Haruno… a good friend from school."

Izuna smiled pleasantly, and offered a hand for a handshake. His palm was soft dry and warm against Sakura's and she could've sworn she felt the cliché electric currents pass between them. Ino was beaming radiantly with a manically triumphant glint in her eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ladies, I have heard wonderful things about you from Sasuke-kun." he reached to ruffle Sasuke's hair, much to the boy's displeasure. He grumbled under his breath.

"I can hear you," Izuna said cheerfully, "Please refrain from using such language in the presence of ladies."

"Okay, fine," Sasuke said with the barest hint of whining in his voice, but there was fondness on his face too. "Ino and Sakura live in your apartment building, several floors above you," he said.

"Oh?" Izuna raised an eyebrow. "Then you should've introduced us right away, Sasuke, that's awfully rude of you. What would they have thought – you came into the area and never passed to say hi! You ought to know better."

Sasuke bore the warmly uttered critique with not a single compliant.

"Sorry," he grumbled.

"It's quite alright, really," Ino assured, and grinned when Sasuke glared. "I'm sure he was just taking into consideration how much Sakura-chan studies all the time."

This turned Izuna's attention on Sakura.

"What do you study, if I may ask?"

"Medicine. I want to be a surgeon one day and save lives. Tsunade Senju -sama is my idol!"

"Tsunade-san, hm? That reminds me I have yet to talk to her tonight. She is here, isn't she? I thought I'd heard her name mentioned in some conversation. It would be very rude not to."

"You know Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked, and felt a little ashamed of how excited she was. Most people just failed to understand why she admired the older woman so much, but they only saw her bad sides – the drinking and the gambling.

"Oh, yes. She saved my life on the operating table after my accident. I don't think I will ever be able to thank her enough for that."

He spoke softly, serenely, and had the air of a man who had uncovered some great knowledge about the inner workings of life, and had found peace with himself about it. It thrilled Sakura in a way, mainly because he was so young – only a few years older than her, yet with the speech and manners of a man who had tasted everything life has to offer, liked it and taken some sort of great moral from it.

"She is a great woman, isn't she?" Sakura agreed.

"Indeed. I would like very much to speak to her in person. Somehow I don't think that the generic Christmas cards and goods-baskets quite cover it."

Oh. So Izuna was among the people who flooded Tsunade's office with flowers and good-packs and cards around the holiday season. Somehow that made her like him even more, especially because she had a small suspicion that he was the person who – much to Shizune's dismay – kept sending small packs of three or four 250ml bottles of vodka Smirnoff.

It seemed to her as if Sasuke and Ino and everyone else in the room had faded into a blurry background as she listened to him talk about Tsunade and his great admiration of her, and how initially he had wanted to be a doctor too, until the accident.

Accident. He referred to it with an almost dismissive tone, and it made Sakura think that this was an old wound, that had healed, albeit with scar tissue, and it no longer pained him.

She knew very little about it, and it was mostly knowledge that had come from Sasuke in clipped sentences, as he'd explained to her some things about his family, back when they were still close, and their friendship was not marred by the ugly remnants of a romantic relationship neither one of them had been ready for. She knew that Izuna had been a teenager, and that Fugaku had been driving the car, and that Fugaku had been angry (which to Sakura seemed an almost permanent mood for him) and they had fought, and he had lost control of the car and it had flown into another car, and then off the road. Fugaku had blamed himself, of course, and Madara blamed him as well, very much so, and Fugaku and Izuna had had another fight when Izuna had come out of the hospital, which had prompted him to request from his mother that they move away. His father, at the time, had passed away.

When she had met Fugaku, she imagined what had prompted his anger, that it was aimed at himself, and then he couldn't live with the guilt and blame, and that a part of him, big or small, wanted others to feel for him the same bitter distaste that he held for himself.

The world slowly zoomed into focus again, because Izuna was no longer speaking, but he still had the same soft serene expression on his handsome face, as if he wanted to be friends with the whole world.

"We could go talk to Tsunade-san," she offered, "I haven't greeted her this evening, and she's sort of my boss."

Izuna took the invitation with a dazzling smile, offering her his arm to take. Sakura didn't feel the deadly look Ino was sending her.

Tsunade was well and properly drunk, and there was no need to be polite about it. She was standing by one of the table with drinks, with Jiraiya and Orochimaru keeping her company. Jiraiya, mostly because he was tipsy as well, and also because Tsunade was a ten and when other tens saw him with a ten they'd become interested as well, even though, in his humble opinion, he was only a nine-and-a-half. Orochimaru was there mostly to avoid having to socialize with anyone, though he'd taken the time to greet Anko and get invited to lecture at a huge science expo that she was organizing with the generous financial help of several companies. He was considering it only briefly – you rarely ever got the chance to be inexcusably rude to large quantities of people these days.

Izuna was walking steadily beside Sakura, her arm still on his, and she could feel the warmth of his skin beneath the sleeve of his Italian-cut suit jacket, and it exhilarated her to no end.

He would occasionally lean and whisper something on other to her about the people they were passing – people that he recognized solely by the sound of their voices.

"Tsunade-sama," she greeted rather loudly to get the woman's attention.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, we were just talking about you," she said and waved a hand in an exaggerated motion in Orochimaru's general direction. He pressed his thin lips in a disapproving line that cut unflatteringly on his paper-pale face.

Then Tsunade's smile grew and her eyes, already bright with the glow of good liquor brightened even more.

"Oh, Izuna-san, it's been so long, and my, how you've grown!"

He shook his head, still smiling warmly and pleasantly.  
"And I am sure you haven't aged a day, Tsunade-san," he said with a rather charming tilt of his head. Tsunade laughed heartily and waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, please, you little flatterer, you. Just like Madara!"

Izuna shook his head with a small secretive laugh, and Sakura joined. She may have only known him for ten minutes, but she already knew for a fact that he was nothing like either Madara or Fugaku.

"And have I introduced you to," she waved again, "Jiraiya and Orochimaru?"

Izuna politely shook hands with both of then and introduced himself.

"Jiraiya? Surely you are not the famous author? I am very honored to meet you then. I greatly enjoy your work in the _Tales of the Gutsy Ninja Series_ and I am waiting for the next audiobook to come out. You certainly have a way with words."

Sakura could tell Jiraiya was flattered to the end of the world and beyond, but then again, he always was when people commented on his books, be it the garish porny paperbacks from the _Icha Icha_ series, or his more serious fiction and nonfiction novels. He was a man, after all, who was going to win the Nobel prize, one day, or so he claimed.

Orochimaru only shook hands with Izuna. A violent cramp chose to run though his arm at that exact moment and he excused himself and disappeared in the mass of people immediately.

Izuna involved Jiraiya in a talk about modern literature, which Sakura joined. She had a lot to say on the subject, after listening Ino talk about her lectures, and simply put- she loved reading books. Tsunade had the occasional quip too – mostly biting sarcastic remarks that Sakura felt would have suited Orochimaru better. Izuna spoke eloquently in his level voice, gesturing with one elegant pale hand. He had really long graceful fingers and Sakura wondered if he played an instrument. It was really a pleasure to listen to him talk. He never expressed extreme opinions, but rather seemed as a sort of mediator who sought to soothe everyone's disagreements and sourness.

Ino found them later on in the evening in a mortal debate over women's role in Shakespearean works. She was giving Sakura a mean vicious look that Sakura chose to ignore.

"The driver is waiting," Ino said serenely but there was something cold in her eyes, "and I think we should go."

Sakura nodded.

"Okay," she said, because she had expressed all her arguments and had nothing more to say on the topic. Jiraiya looked pleased to have been defeated so gracefully and Tsunade just looked pleased that Sakura had won.

Ino turned to Izuna.

"Would you like us to give you a ride – we live in the same building after all?"

He looked surprised, as if it hadn't crossed his mind.

"Oh, that would be very lovely of you, if it's not too much to ask. Madara gave me a ride here, but he likes to stay late, and I was going to wait for him."

Ino waved a hand with a bright smile.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I wouldn't take no for an answer, so please, walk with us to the car."

"So how did you like your evening?" Ino asked.

There was a hint of venom in her voice, venom that Sakura knew well from all the years she'd known her. Venom, which she had become especially familiar with in the early stages of her relationship with Sasuke.

"It was nice," Sakura said cautiously, "but I'm still dead tired."

She didn't feel like fighting with Ino now or ever. Ino had a way with bringing out the worst in people when she fought with them. She fought meanly, dirty. She was cruel and petty in the way most pretty girls are cruel and petty, a sort of meanness in her that was only harmless when it wasn't fed.

Sakura knew better, knew, that there was a jealousy monster inside Ino, something dark and wicked and it was eating at her heart constantly. She was Ino's best friend because Ino didn't have to be afraid of her. She was Ino's best friend because she had nothing Ino could be jealous of, at least in Ino's mind.

Ino had told her, some nights, when she was too hopelessly drunk to remember. Had told her that, and other things - that she was jealous of Hinata because she was wealthier and _thank God she doesn't realize how pretty she is, can you imagine if she did; _told her that she would never, ever stop envying Shikamaru for how smart he was, how much smarter than _her_ he was; she'd told Sakura in hiccupping sobs that she envied her too for being smart and dedicated, a dedication that Ino herself lacked.

She had had many ugly fights with Sakura when Sakura got together with Sasuke, had been downright cruel, because she'd seen Sasuke as her _right_.

"_I'm in his world," she'd said meanly, "I'm prettier than you and I move in his social circles because I can AFFORD it! You are a nobody, a commoner!" _

There had been a darkly triumphant look in her blue eyes right before she'd started crying and apologizing.

Sakura figured that this was Ino's biggest tragedy – she was so jealous of what everyone else had, but she never believed she was good enough and what she had was good enough. Ino was envious and petty and she felt guilty for that, and the guilt made her unhappy, but she felt guilty for being unhappy too, because she had been taught that people in her world have no reason to be unhappy, and it was crushing her, a vicious cycle of self-loathing, that only Sakura knew about.

And now the dark jealousy monster was rising in Ino and it made Sakura sad, but it also made her angry, because she was getting tired of it.

"Nice, was it?" Ino asked as she hung her dress in the walk-in closet. "Like Izuna?"

Sakura returned stony silence as she fixed some creases in the dress she'd just taken off, passed Ino and hung it in the closet.

"We're not doing this," she declared flatly and started pulling pins out of her hair.

Ino looked surprised.

"Not doing what?" she asked, and it occurred to Sakura that she didn't even understand what she was doing, that she didn't understand the jealousy monster in her.

"We are not arguing about Izuna. Yes, he is nice. Yes I had a nice time talking to him. Yes, I genuinely do like him. But if you want him – go ahead – this is not a competition, Ino."

Ino had turned her back on Sakura, facing the mirror. She still had her make up on, but it was sort of caked on her face, uneven after so many hours. Ino looked like some sort of ivory figurine in her too-sexy lacy green underwear, with her pretty, long graceful limbs and her platinum hair like out of a dye ad. She was skinny in the worrying way that most people on a constant diet are skinny, with her collarbone and hipbones jutting out sharply under her almost translucent skin. There was a tattoo of a butterfly on her left shoulder, done in black and blue, and the kanji for perfection under it. She ran her hands through her hair, and tossed it back in a great glowing waterfall, as she started tying it. Her eyes looked cold and empty and so much time in silence had passed that Sakura felt she might not get an answer.

Then finally, Ino spoke, as she reached for the make-up remover.

"Yes, Sakura, it is," and she sounded tired and sad, and Sakura didn't know what to say, because something in the way Ino's thin shoulder slumped told her that in Ino's eyes Sakura had already won and nothing mattered from that point onward.

She felt the irrational urge to apologize to the blonde girl, and it made her angry so she stifled it, as she left Ino in her walk-in closet that was practically overflowing with clothes and shoes and jewelry, some of them still unopened in their boxes.

She went to her own room, curling up on the bed. She thought she could hear faint sobbing from the bathroom, and she pulled a pillow over her head. She couldn't talk to Ino right now, couldn't comfort her, without grabbing her by the skinny shoulders and yelling at her to get a reality check. It wouldn't help. If anything, it would only close Ino to her.

When she fell asleep, she dreamt that she and Izuna were on the beach having a picnic, while the waves crashed in the blindingly white sands of the shore. Izuna was playing the guitar, and humming. He invited her to lean on his chest, and ran his hands through her hair. There was something wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She reached for one of the plates with food that they had. She took a bite of the sandwich. The mean tasted weird. She tried to wash it down with lemonade, but she choked because there was a whisp of long yellow hair floating in the liquid. The mean still tasted weird.

"Izuna… the food doesn't taste quite right," she said. He was already finishing a second sandwich.

"Really, love?" He asked in his soft pleasant voice. "I can't imagine why. After all, we are only eating Ino."

And the dream started to fall apart because the yellow in the lemonade was squeezed out of Ino's hair, and the sandwiches where made out of chopped up pieces of Ino's heart, and Ino's graceful ribcage served as a picnic basket and –

She woke up in cold sweat just as her alarm rang.

She ran a hand through her hair, and shook her head. She ran the tap in the bathroom 'till the water was ice cold, and washed her face and arms up to the elbows.

In their kitchen Ino was setting breakfast. She acted as if last night hadn't happened, which she always did when something troubled her.

"I made bacon and eggs, you want any?"

But Sakura couldn't tear her mind from the taste of Ino's flesh in the dream, so she shook her head and poured herself coffee.

With an angry jerky motion Ino emptied the pan into the trashcan. She was on an alphabet diet, and her letter of the week was O, so she peeled herself an orange as she sat across Sakura.

"Okay," she said finally, and made it sound both accusatory and defeated at once.

"What?"

"I said," Ino repeated slowly, "Okay. Go on ahead. With Izuna. I won't give you any grief about it like I did with Sasuke. I mean, it's the chick code – technically you saw him first, so dibs to you."

She spread her arms out as if to say 'There.'

Sakura shook her head and smiled.

"Okay."

_After all, we are only eating Ino._


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sad, you see," she crossed and uncrossed her long pale legs, the heel of her shoe tapping impatiently the carpeted floor, "I feel sad all the time, these days."

"I see," said the therapist, nodding thoughtfully and scribbled something in her pad, "And why do you think you're sad?"

Ino debated the answer in her head. "I don't know," she said finally, "I just am. I feel like crying all the time. Sometimes I get so lonely even though I'm around people." she spread her arms out, "I really can't explain it."

"Have you been sleeping well?"

"Yes. I've been sleeping too much, to be honest. I nearly missed half my morning classes the other day. I feel so … tired. Which is weird, I haven't been doing much of… anything these days."

"I see," repeated the therapist again, nodding comprehensively.

Ino narrowed her iceberg eyes. What a waste of time and money. This woman couldn't get any more unhelpful if she tried.

"It seems out session is almost at an end. Should I write you down for next week?"

"That won't be necessary," said Ino with a polite cold smile. The sessions accomplished nothing anyway.

She got up, and picked her purple leather handbag off the floor. She tossed a look in the mirror by the door on the way out of the office.

Her heels clicked loudly on her way down the hall and outside on the sun-brightened street. She crossed the sidewalk and raised a hand imperiously, summoning a cab as if out of thin air. She had to get to her appointment. She settled in the plush backseat and gave the address of Taki International Bank, and pulled her make-up kit out of her bag to refresh her face a little. Then she went though the interview questions she had typed out. She paid the driver, and stepped out to stand in front of the large monster of a building that bore the logo of one of the largest banking organizations in the world. She walked across the concrete sidewalk and though the automatic glass doors, then straight to the receptionist.

"I am Ino Yamanaka, representative of the Hunter College Capus paper, here for my eleven clock appointment."

She said it all in one breath with a perfect smile on her lips. The receptionist checked her papers.

"You may proceed," she said, as if she didn't recognize her at all. Ino flashed her visitor ID at the guard as she entered the elevator. She gave herself a once over in the mirror – hair pulled back in a bun, light discreet make-up, grey pencil skirt, petal pink silk shirt and black high heeled pumps. Right. She looked all nice and professional and ready for action. The elevator stopped at the last floor of the building. She practiced her smile in the mirror, before stepping out. Before her were the monstrous glass doors of the office of the fifth richest man in the United States. As if on cue Kakuzu raised his head from the reports he was reviewing, and got up, to open his office door for her with a forced smile.

"Good morning Ino, it's been a while, how is your mother doing?"

"She's been well. Thank you for asking. So, how would it be most comfortable for you to do this? Would you rather look over the questions and mark which ones you'd rather answer?"

Kakuzu shrugged carelessly. "I trust your journalist's intuition, Ino," he said, and took a seat behind his desk again. "You may sit anywhere. Should I ask my assistant to bring you anything?"

"No. I'm fine. Let's get started."

Kakuzu really hated press stuff. He disliked the publicity his status and position demanded. Normally he just let his second-in command of sorts, Pein, handle this sort of thing, but this – it was different. Ino was a family friend. Her mother had called and asked this one small favor, to make her precious daughter shine, by taking an interview with the famed businessman. And he'd agreed of course. In honor of the woman's friendship with his deceased wife, he had to agree. Ino wasn't all over unpleasant to him. She was shallow, which was expected of her age, and greedy, which was not necessarily bad, and she had the overall polite agreeable countenance someone might expect of a girl from her society. She'd chosen general, not overly intrusive questions, and he appreciated the fact that she never once brought up his love life, as most journalists tended to do. He'd run three newspapers into the ground for daring even the smallest speculation about his personal life. She thanked him for his consideration when they were done, put her notes back in her bag (which might have been a fashion trend, but looked more like comodo dragon with a zipper). She offered him her hand to shake. She has a small pale elegant hand, with long nails painted the same light pink as her shirt. He took it in his own, much larger darker palm, and squeezed lightly. She had long delicate fingers, but he knew for a fact she'd never played an instrument. Her hand was warm and dry in his, the soft feeling of her skin strange against his own, rougher one. She thanked him once more with a bright smile, and then left his office, sauntering down the hall towards the elevator on her long thin legs.

-x-

Izuna was sitting in his office, listening half-heartedly to the lawyer across him, making a ridiculously disrespectful settling offer.

"No," he interrupted midly, "I will not have it. We will not settle for less than two million, I am very sorry."

He offered a soft apologetic smile to the man. They were both just doing their jobs after all. "Here is our counter offer."

He trailed his fingers over his desk, and pushed a manila folder to the other man. The rustling of pages let him know that the offer was being read.

"This won't do," the other lawyer said. "You want too much."

"No. You offer too little."

The other lawyer huffed. "I will see you in court then." he said finally.

Izuna gave him a soft professional smile. "That seems to be the case." He got up and offered his hand to the other man. The handshake seemd to strong, as if he was being tested. He didn't change his facial expression. The competition lawyer stormed out of his office, slamming the door.

"I guess I made him angry," Izuna muttered, as a knock resonated though the room.

"Come in."

The steps he immediately recognized to be Madara's.

"Already riling up the competition, I see," his older brother chuckled fondly.

"It couldn't be helped. When you see what they were offering us… It's not that the company can't afford to lose the money, but this is a matter of principle for me."

Madara shook his head.

"My sweet precious little brother has become a legal lion. A warrior armed with textbooks not a sword."

"The pen is mightier," Izuna said with a soft chuckle. "And Temida's sword does not always swing right. She is a blind goddess after all."

"But you always aim at the right place to score," Madara said.

Izuna shrugged.

"I am blind, but I no god. My blindness makes my other senses sharper. Such as an acute sense of justice, for example."

"There is no place for justice in a courtroom," Madara said in a light tone, mostly to rile him up.

"You're jaded," Izuna said.

"I am, aren't I? A disillusioned old man. I have no idea how you put up with me."

"I put up with you because you're my brother and I love you dearly. You know that. And also, because you need me, since your IQ is so vastly below mine, and you seem to require a mature influence upon most of your actions. Therefore I have taken upon myself to replace the strict parents you so obviously lack."

"Ouch, little brother. That may yet be the harshest thing you've said. I am deeply wounded."

"But I can hear the smile in your voice."

Madara chuckled. "You perceptive little -"

-x-

Konoha High, five years ago

Sakura stood in front of the high iron gates of the school where she'd earned a scholarship. She had nearly swallowd her tongue at the sight of some of the cars in the parking lot, as compared to the dingy bus that had taken her to school. This place was a top school where the children of some of the most talented beautiful people wentto develop and grow. It had a really intimidating reputation.

"All right, let's do this~CHAAAAA!" her inner screamed, punching the air. Suddenly, all the students parted, as if by magic and little hearts started dancing in the air.

"Look, look, look~"

Behind her a black limo had parked, and two of the most gorgeous boys she'd seen stepped out.

"UCHIHA-SAMA AND UCHIHA –SAMA KYAAAAAAAAAAH!"  
She was quick enough to jump out of the way as a croud of fangirls nearly trampled her.

"How troublesome," someone beside her grumbled. a boy ina rumpled uniform lay in the shadow of a tree. "Be careful, fresh meat, or they'll eat you alive."

He had such a disinterested expression that it took her a while to realize he was addressing her.

"Um – thank you, I guess?"

"You new?"

"Yeah."

"Troublesome."

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I'm a scholarship student."

"I'm Nara Shikamaru."

"Nice meeting you."

"Hn."

"Oi, Shikamaru! Who you talking to? We'll be late again, and Asuma will dock points off – Eh? Who on earth are you? Is that your real hair color? It looks sooo cute! I'm Ino Yamanaka, by the way, president of school paper, are you new? You look kinda lost. Hey are you the scholarship girl? Can I interview you? What was is like learning you've earned the scholarship? Are you eyes really this bright, or are you wearing lenses?"

The blond girl didn't shut up for about five minutes. A slightly chubby guy behind her, simply munched chips, until she saw fit to stop for a breath.

"Nice meeting you," he said, "I'm Choji Akimichi, my dad's the president of barbecue foodchain, and I'm the head of the Cooking Collective in the school. if you can cook, you're welcome to join us. We meed every Tuesday. This guy here," he jabbed a finger at Shikamru, "heads the Shogi club. and his dad is a major government something-or other. And Ino just introduced herself. She's also head cheerleader, and her mom… Ino what does your mom do anyway?"

Ino smiled brightly and shrugged. "Nothing at all! Now, since you're new, you probably need help getting around campus. Do you have your schedule?"

"Yeah. I have homeroom with Hatake Kakashi."

"So you have homeroom with us? Cool. You can meet all our frends. Coming?"

Ino offered her small pale hand with brightly polished nails. And Sakura made her first true friend.


End file.
